That's true of every majority government regardless of voting system and is a feature of Parliamentary governments, or just governments in general. Does the Israeli government elected by pure PR care what the Joint List (and thus the Arab minority) want?
Fair go, Mr. Thompson, I was thinking of your point that in voting for the SNP the Scots were voting for the party best able to bring home the pork to Scotland. In my view voting for the party least able to affect the deliberations of the government was actually going to do the reverse.
Had there been the potential for a Labour majority (sweeping Scotland as normal) or Labour minority relying upon SNP support, the latter would likely bring more pork to Scotland.
The fact Labour failed south of the border as well as north of it made the whole question moot.
The division between "republic" and "empire" is an anachronism. The Romans considered themselves for it to be one continuous Res Publica for the entire period, during which different political institutions rose and fall. Augustus was not a monarch or emperor in the medieval sense, but the First Citizen of the Senate, invested with the authority of the state. It can even be argued that the concept of a public state separate from the Imperator (and later Basileus) lasted continuously until the fall of the Roman State in 1453.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
Gordon Brown, David Miliband and Neil Kinnock all know how to win General Elections as Labour Leader, don't they?!
It has been quite amusing to see David Miliband giving out lectures on how to win elections. Him, the only person in the world to lose an election to Ed Miliband.
Organised Religion that can't be challenged has been a vile pox on the globe for thousands of years used to abuse, imprison and kill both believers and "heretics". Challenging dogma and fanatics absolutely serves a good purpose and is a good in itself. It absolutely serves good reason.
I think Charlie Hebdo was offensive and bad-mannered, but people should be entitled to be offensive and bad-mannered when it comes to expressing their political and religious opinions. I'd far rather live in a society in which people can be offensive and bad-mannered about religion, or politics, than one in which the State punishes people for it. For that reason, I think the prosecution of Pastor James McConnell for broadcasting rude comments about Islam is ridiculous.
Absolutely 100% agreed.
I ought to be able to make any offensive or bad-mannered comments I want about Christianity, Islam, the Mormons, Jehovas Witnesses, Judaism or any other belief system out there like astrology. Without fear of violence or prosecution.
Anecdote alert. On buses today, I saw two gentlemen wearing hats like Mr Corbyn's. Both hats looked very new. I'd never seen a hat like that before Mr Corbyn became News. Has he set a fashion?
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
I'd add Energy and Climate Change to that. It's hard to push a green renewable message when your idiot leader is re-opening the coal mines.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
I think Corbyn would definitely install loyalists on the Shadow Chancellor, Foreign secretary and Defence secretary positions, as he would certainly want some one who will toe his line on austerity, trident, and the EU.
As for the other positions, he'll probably be more flexible and lenient.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
I think Corbyn would definitely install loyalists on the Shadow Chancellor, Foreign secretary and Defence secretary positions, as he would certainly want some one who will toe his line on austerity, trident, and the EU.
Careful about using the word "Loyalist" when Jezza is around
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
I think Corbyn would definitely install loyalists on the Shadow Chancellor, Foreign secretary and Defence secretary positions, as he would certainly want some one who will toe his line on austerity, trident, and the EU.
Careful about using the word "Loyalist" when Jezza is around
Why? People loyal to the new leadership should be called by definition loyalists.
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
Is there anyone in the Lords Corbyn can persuade into service? I know he doesn't believe in the place - but needs must...
Anecdote alert. On buses today, I saw two gentlemen wearing hats like Mr Corbyn's. Both hats looked very new. I'd never seen a hat like that before Mr Corbyn became News. Has he set a fashion?
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
Positions to avoid in a Corbyn shadow cabinet: Shadow Chancellor Chief secretary to the Treasury Defence Foreign secretary Business secretary Northern Ireland
I think Corbyn would definitely install loyalists on the Shadow Chancellor, Foreign secretary and Defence secretary positions, as he would certainly want some one who will toe his line on austerity, trident, and the EU.
Careful about using the word "Loyalist" when Jezza is around
Why? People loyal to the new leadership should be called by definition loyalists.
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
Everyone will cry fraud if this continues, even Liz Kendall:
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
If some #Labourpurge doubts take hold and a few have second thoughts about Jezzbollah and his 40 thieves then Shadsy's 5/2 on 40-50% first prefs look value. Alternately he has 7/4 on less than 50% on first prefs.
With the uncertainty on polling this selectorate I think these are tempting.
The crux of the argument was and is the size of the state, not the size of the deficit. Cons should (I do) want a smaller state than the behemoth that GB had created. I agree all the credit rating stuff was fluff (for a country which issues its own currency and especially in a low inflationary environment) but sometimes the public hears what it wants to hear.
Look, we're never going to agree about the size of the state or anything like that.
But my fundamental problem is that the Conservatives are making an argument about the deficit rather than arguing about the size and the role of the state. If they had run and won on a mandate of smaller and decentralised government (although I'd argue that they're very inconsistent about what that actually means) then it wouldn't bother me anywhere near as much. They're saying one thing while doing something completely different.
And, yes, the credit rating stuff was fluff. But the government pushed it hard and the press repeated it uncritically. But there were posters here, sincere posters, saying that the AAA credit rating was vitally important and the key difference between a Conservative and Labour government. The fact that people believed that nonsense shows the press isn't doing its job.
Making an economy more efficient is the way to reduce the deficit, and then, eventually, the debt.
Efficiency is generally increased by:
a) cutting expenditure - i.e. austerity b) growing the economy - i.e. increasing employment, exports, retail sales etc c) increasing the tax tax - the only way to achieve this and grow the economy at the same time is to cut tax rates
I know socialists struggle with this concept, but it has worked. Deficit down in real terms since 2010. Unnecessary welfare expenditure down in real terms. Economy grown massively. Employment up massively. Tax take up.
You make an economy more efficient by increasing productivity (output per man hour).
Increased productivity enables higher wages to be paid which increases tax take.
Increased productivity means fewer government workers needed for the same amount of work done and reduces government spending.
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
I'm not convinced by this angst over whether the FS is/isn't relevant. It depends, as it always has done, on who the PM is, rather than who the FS is. For example, Halifax was a powerful and dominant Conservative politician in the late 1930s, Neville Chamberlain's acknowledged deputy and the man who was effectively offered first refusal of the premiership on Chamberlain's resignation in 1940 - but it was Chamberlain who dominated foreign affairs, because he became interested in them. Conversely, Sir Samuel Hoare in the early 1930s, a much less forceful figure, had a great deal more latitude over Abyssinia (which he made a mess of) because Baldwin did not have the energy to interfere. Eden, also, another huge figure, had comparatively little say over foreign policy direction in the 1950s because Churchill liked to strut the world stage - later Eden himself eclipsed Selwyn Lloyd, as Macmillan did Home.
Going back, Lloyd George far outshone Balfour, even though Balfour was a former Prime Minister himself - but Asquith never really got to grips with foreign affairs, leaving it to Grey. Lord Salisbury was mostly, literally, his own Foreign Secretary, and cabinets met at the foreign office - as was Disraeli in his later years, but not Gladstone, who was content to leave foreign affairs largely to Rosebery. Derby appointed his own son Foreign Secretary to keep it under his control!
Going further back, sometimes it was the other way around - Fox, Castlereagh, Canning and Palmerston were all at various times (not all times) officially Foreign Secretary but in practice running the government over the heads of feeble premiers.
It's true that in recent years, with the growth of air travel meaning PMs can spend more time abroad without long voyages to consider, PMs can now conduct more foreign affairs on their own. But I think the weakness of the FO is due to a string of interventionist PMs, not to the weakness of the office itself. If we had a domestically focussed PM again, I think it would come back quickly.
Anecdote alert. On buses today, I saw two gentlemen wearing hats like Mr Corbyn's. Both hats looked very new. I'd never seen a hat like that before Mr Corbyn became News. Has he set a fashion?
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Tsipras now "vote for me in order not to surrender our values, vote for me for to keep greece and our values greek". Elections September 20th.
I think he may have done a tactical error in saying that "now we vote for who is going to implement the 3rd bailout". If people wanted a bailout and wanted it implemented or not they would vote for the opposition not for him.
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Tsipras now "vote for me in order not to surrender our values, vote for me for to keep greece and our values greek". Elections September 20th.
I think he may have done a tactical error in saying that "now we vote for who is going to implement the 3rd bailout". If people wanted a bailout and wanted it implemented or not they would vote for the opposition not for him.
"No retreat, no surrender. That is Spartan law. And by Spartan law, we will stand and fight... and die. A new age has begun: an age of freedom! And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it!"
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Last??
What about President Hollande?
Under what possible measure are socialists left wing?
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
Everyone will cry fraud if this continues, even Liz Kendall:
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
Everyone will cry fraud if this continues, even Liz Kendall:
The crux of the argument was and is the size of the state, not the size of the deficit. Cons should (I do) want a smaller state than the behemoth that GB had created. I agree all the credit rating stuff was fluff (for a country which issues its own currency and especially in a low inflationary environment) but sometimes the public hears what it wants to hear.
Look, we're never going to agree about the size of the state or anything like that.
But my fundamental problem is that the Conservatives are making an argument about the deficit rather than arguing about the size and the role of the state. If they had run and won on a mandate of smaller and decentralised government (although I'd argue that they're very inconsistent about what that actually means) then it wouldn't bother me anywhere near as much. They're saying one thing while doing something completely different.
And, yes, the credit rating stuff was fluff. But the government pushed it hard and the press repeated it uncritically. But there were posters here, sincere posters, saying that the AAA credit rating was vitally important and the key difference between a Conservative and Labour government. The fact that people believed that nonsense shows the press isn't doing its job.
Making an economy more efficient is the way to reduce the deficit, and then, eventually, the debt.
Efficiency is generally increased by:
a) cutting expenditure - i.e. austerity b) growing the economy - i.e. increasing employment, exports, retail sales etc c) increasing the tax tax - the only way to achieve this and grow the economy at the same time is to cut tax rates
I know socialists struggle with this concept, but it has worked. Deficit down in real terms since 2010. Unnecessary welfare expenditure down in real terms. Economy grown massively. Employment up massively. Tax take up.
You make an economy more efficient by increasing productivity (output per man hour).
Increased productivity enables higher wages to be paid which increases tax take.
Increased productivity means fewer government workers needed for the same amount of work done and reduces government spending.
Bang on as ever David. I should have said 'political economy'!
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
I was referring to the "James III" bit!
Really ?!? .... I thought you hadn't had a "bit" for ages ?!?
The Greek opinion polls have SYRIZA on about 40%, and ND about 22%.
Let us assume that SYRIZA (Tsipiras), ND and SYRIZA (splinter) all end up in the low 20s.
That means that even with the 50 seat bonus, there will probably need to be a coalition between two of those three.
It could be quite entertaining. That being said, I suspect Tsipiras walks this, getting 30-33% for his SYRIZA, with SYRIZA (splinter) getting perhaps 10%.
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
John Blackwillow @blackwillow1 5m5 minutes ago I think the same, the #LabourPurge will simply confirm what we already know. The blairites want power, by any means
Labour really will be in chaos if John is not alone and Corbyn loses...
Everyone will cry fraud if this continues, even Liz Kendall:
I predicted weeks ago that this could end in the courts.
"Not a member? No problem, you can have a vote by paying £3 if you support our aims.
Great! Here's my £3.
Sorry, we now don't feel you deserve a vote.
Why not?
Can't tell you, unless you become a full member."
A Kafka-esque farce....
If they're even blocking full members of fairly long standing, as in the case of that tweet above, then this really should end in the courts.
It's about all that's needed to make this the most farcical and inept leadership election of all time. Even the Borgias weren't quite as incompetent as this.
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
I was referring to the "James III" bit!
Really ?!? .... I thought you hadn't had a "bit" for ages ?!?
For the past couple of weeks, I've been lurking on this forum called tes community. Apparently it's a community of teachers.
If it is indeed a community of teachers (and they are representative) then the UK is really screwed. I love how that when more a third fail GCSE Maths, they blame the pupils, and don't ask questions of their own teaching. If you instinctively dismiss pupils, then they aren't going to do well.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Last??
What about President Hollande?
Under what possible measure are socialists left wing?
Gordon Brown, David Miliband and Neil Kinnock all know how to win General Elections as Labour Leader, don't they?!
It has been quite amusing to see David Miliband giving out lectures on how to win elections. Him, the only person in the world to lose an election to Ed Miliband.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
I was referring to the "James III" bit!
Really ?!? .... I thought you hadn't had a "bit" for ages ?!?
How's Franz of Bavaria doing BTW?
Like yourself .... of foreign origin, unmarried and unlikely to become King of the United Kingdom.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been lurking on this forum called tes community. Apparently it's a community of teachers.
If it is indeed a community of teachers (and they are representative) then the UK is really screwed. I love how that when more a third fail GCSE Maths, they blame the pupils, and don't ask questions of their own teaching. If you instinctively dismiss pupils, then they aren't going to do well.
And on Tspiras: LOL.
TES stands for Times Educational Supplement, which runs the forum. So yes, it is a community of teachers.
No, they are not representative, any more than PB posters are representative of all voting patterns. They tend to be the most vocal and aggressive, and the forum has a strong left-wing bias anyway because of its links to the newspaper.
EDIT (further thought) - they would tend to be particularly unrepresentative of good teachers in shortage subjects, because they are the most overworked and have little time to do anything other than work - even in the holidays.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Greek opinion polls have SYRIZA on about 40%, and ND about 22%.
Let us assume that SYRIZA (Tsipiras), ND and SYRIZA (splinter) all end up in the low 20s.
That means that even with the 50 seat bonus, there will probably need to be a coalition between two of those three.
It could be quite entertaining. That being said, I suspect Tsipiras walks this, getting 30-33% for his SYRIZA, with SYRIZA (splinter) getting perhaps 10%.
I can tell you now, with the info from my sources (always reliable about Greece as you know by now), Tsipras was forced to go for an early election because everyday that passes he loses support, Tsipras loyalists had said that after November Syriza would lose an election.
I think it will be a wild unpredictable ride, look out for 4 things:
1. If ND and Syriza are close. 2. The new left wing party. 3. The Union of Centrists. 4. The Nazi party.
If Syriza gets close to ND then the smaller parties will get squeezed, if not then Syriza will lose even more support to it's left and to the Nazis, while ND will lose support to the Union. So far 1 in 5 Syriza voters from the last election are leaving it for the new left party, that's about 7%.
In all circumstances I expect record low turnout. Also I expect that Tsipras will still be PM but forced into a wide pro-european coalition with another 3 parties, but not the Independent Greeks as they will be thrashed.
The prevailing global axis of tension now runs across the Pacific not the Atlantic.
Consequently the British Foreign Secretary is about as important or slightly less so than the German Foreign Secretary (whom most of us on this forum of politics experts probably can't name).
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Japanese really started it, in 1937, but everyone else ignores that.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Japanese really started it, in 1937, but everyone else ignores that.
Or the Italians in 1935? They prepared the ground anyway.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Zapatero, Mitterrand, Brown, Felipe Gonzales, Romano Prodi, Sturgeon and virtually every Nordic Social Democrat government plus the whole of Eastern Europe until 1989?
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Japanese really started it, in 1937, but everyone else ignores that.
Or the Italians in 1935? They prepared the ground anyway.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Japanese really started it, in 1937, but everyone else ignores that.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Zapatero, Mitterrand, Brown, Felipe Gonzales, Romano Prodi, Sturgeon and virtually every Nordic Social Democrat government plus the whole of Eastern Europe until 1989?
Socialists are not left wing, when was the last time any socialist government did anything left wing? And I said elected governments not peoples republics. P.S. Gordon Brown is a lefty?
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
I expect that he will. But given his views on Russia, the middle east and on the US's role in the world, it's not easy to imagine any of the three working easily with him on foreign policy.
I think it's mildly ironic that Jeremy Corbyn — an ardent republican — is likely to be elected leader on the 12th September which is precisely one day after the Queen celebrates overtaking Victoria as the longest-serving British monarch.
Or .... on 23rd May 2016 when The Queen will overtake the 64 years 3 months and 16 days of James III and VIII.
Naught but Jacobite Propaganda!!!
I assure you the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952.
I was referring to the "James III" bit!
Really ?!? .... I thought you hadn't had a "bit" for ages ?!?
How's Franz of Bavaria doing BTW?
Like yourself .... of foreign origin, unmarried and unlikely to become King of the United Kingdom.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been lurking on this forum called tes community. Apparently it's a community of teachers.
If it is indeed a community of teachers (and they are representative) then the UK is really screwed. I love how that when more a third fail GCSE Maths, they blame the pupils, and don't ask questions of their own teaching. If you instinctively dismiss pupils, then they aren't going to do well.
And on Tspiras: LOL.
TES stands for Times Educational Supplement, which runs the forum. So yes, it is a community of teachers.
No, they are not representative, any more than PB posters are representative of all voting patterns. They tend to be the most vocal and aggressive, and the forum has a strong left-wing bias anyway because of its links to the newspaper.
EDIT (further thought) - they would tend to be particularly unrepresentative of good teachers in shortage subjects, because they are the most overworked and have little time to do anything other than work - even in the holidays.
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to hear that they aren't representative - some of them appear to be awfully narrow-minded and immature for teachers.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
My guess is that he won't. If Corbyn knew how to work with other peopld of different views in the party then he would have done so at somr point in the last decades.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
I expect that he will. But given his views on Russia, the middle east and on the US's role in the world, it's not easy to imagine any of the three working easily with him on foreign policy.
Only Burnham said that he would be willing to serve in the shadow cabinet, but I don't think it will be one of the big 3, especially the Foreign secretary one as Corbyn would like absolute control of the foreign policy message till the EU referendum.
Gordon Brown, David Miliband and Neil Kinnock all know how to win General Elections as Labour Leader, don't they?!
It has been quite amusing to see David Miliband giving out lectures on how to win elections. Him, the only person in the world to lose an election to Ed Miliband.
Not the only one. The mighty Andy Burnham lost to him too.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
For the past couple of weeks, I've been lurking on this forum called tes community. Apparently it's a community of teachers.
If it is indeed a community of teachers (and they are representative) then the UK is really screwed. I love how that when more a third fail GCSE Maths, they blame the pupils, and don't ask questions of their own teaching. If you instinctively dismiss pupils, then they aren't going to do well.
And on Tspiras: LOL.
TES stands for Times Educational Supplement, which runs the forum. So yes, it is a community of teachers.
No, they are not representative, any more than PB posters are representative of all voting patterns. They tend to be the most vocal and aggressive, and the forum has a strong left-wing bias anyway because of its links to the newspaper.
EDIT (further thought) - they would tend to be particularly unrepresentative of good teachers in shortage subjects, because they are the most overworked and have little time to do anything other than work - even in the holidays.
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to hear that they aren't representative - some of them appear to be awfully narrow-minded and immature for teachers.
I am afraid that an awful lot of teachers can be very narrow-minded and immature - just as a lot of civil servants, bankers, journalists and GPs can be. It is however only fair to point out to the members of that forum that we are under formidable pressure to produce results and therefore we all tend to get a bit defensive when they don't happen.
I would quote the words of a very wise teacher who taught in a dozen schools, over forty years, without ever moving beyond Head of Department (because he didn't want to): 'I've never yet met a teacher who wakes up on Monday mornings thinking, "What's the most damaging thing I can do to the children I'm teaching this week?"' (My mother would unfortunately be unable to say that - she was a colleague of the infamous Woodhead - but that's another story.) Unfortunately, because nobody believes us when we say that, when things go wrong we do tend to close ranks and fire out at the world - even when it's our fault.
The siege mentality in education is much the saddest thing about it, and I strongly suspect, even ahead of the workload, the comparatively low pay and the long hours, is one reason why 40% of teachers quit the profession within five years of qualifying.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Zapatero, Mitterrand, Brown, Felipe Gonzales, Romano Prodi, Sturgeon and virtually every Nordic Social Democrat government plus the whole of Eastern Europe until 1989?
Socialists are not left wing, when was the last time any socialist government did anything left wing? And I said elected governments not peoples republics. P.S. Gordon Brown is a lefty?
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
My guess is that he won't. If Corbyn knew how to work with other peopld of different views in the party then he would have done so at somr point in the last decades.
I disagree - I expect Corbyn to run the shadow cabinet in quite a democratic manner to start with. The difficulty he will have is in accepting the need for collective responsibility.
One further thought - in 2017, the maths foundation paper is effectively being abolished. The new 'foundation' tier will be the current 'intermediate' tier. That's going to have a big impact on results unless something drastic happens. It's all worth pointing out that as it is nearly impossible to get a half-decent job (and totally impossible to get a university place) without GCSE maths, it's going to have a serious knock-on effect down the line.
If Jeremy Corbyn wins, who might serve as shadow Foreign Secretary? Given his views, this looks like the most challenging post to fill.
My guess is that JC will make a magnanimous offer to the 3 defeated candidates first,even though they may have rejected the thought initially.Most leaders prefer to have their opponents inside the tent urinating out than outside the tent urinating in.
My guess is that he won't. If Corbyn knew how to work with other peopld of different views in the party then he would have done so at somr point in the last decades.
I disagree - I expect Corbyn to run the shadow cabinet in quite a democratic manner to start with. The difficulty he will have is in accepting the need for collective responsibility.
He may set new benchmarks in collective irresponsibility as they all endorse random and possibly conflicting policies in public. Would be fun to watch, but not effective opposition.
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
The Japanese really started it, in 1937, but everyone else ignores that.
Manchuria was occupied as early as 1931...
True, but that didn't result in an ongoing war, rather like the war in Europe began quite some time after the occupations started.
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Zapatero, Mitterrand, Brown, Felipe Gonzales, Romano Prodi, Sturgeon and virtually every Nordic Social Democrat government plus the whole of Eastern Europe until 1989?
Socialists are not left wing, when was the last time any socialist government did anything left wing? And I said elected governments not peoples republics. P.S. Gordon Brown is a lefty?
Brown increased spending to almost 50% of and the top tax rate to 50% Hollande to 70%. The fact Marxism is normally unelectable does not mean there have not been centre left government. You could also ask when was the last time we had a purely capitalist government in Europe?
This is a very good example of why the Establishment (Labour Grandees, Political commentators, MSM and the Tories) need to re-think their tactics around trying to combat Corbyn. There is a risk that the relentless Establishment attacks on Corbyn result in many folks doing their own research and taking a very hard look at the UK's role in the world.
Once folks start looking into events such as - King David Hotel bombing, the actions of a number of our Middle Eastern allies, who funds ISIS, the likely findings of the Chilcot review, UK's involvement in illegal renditions, Northern Ireland, Miners strike etc etc - they may not like what they find.
The Establishment's best approach would be to let Corbyn play out without looking like their in a state of panic, as this just seems to be driving forward the Corbyn surge.
You could also ask when was the last time we had a purely capitalist government in Europe?
That's easy. Never. Nobody has ever tried capitalism in its pure form for a very good reason - the potential social costs are far too high and the risk of revolution would therefore be too great.
Also, of course, in theory at least pure capitalism requires that nobody ever raise taxes - therefore a capitalist government is technically as much of an oxymoron as a communist one.
You always end up therefore with a hybrid economy of some sort in a sane system (War Communism in Russia, complete with the famous moneyless budget, being disqualified for not being sane) - it's just a question of where you put the emphasis on the different parts.
Dear oh dear. Channel 4 News running an article with Jezza equivocating the brutality of ISISS to the Yanks action in Fallujah.
Corbers really doesn't like the Yanks one jot.
The good news for those who love Jezza is that these comments are well in the past, and can be put down to the foolishness of youth. Jez made the remarks on Russian TV a year ago when he was 65.
This is a very good example of why the Establishment (Labour Grandees, Political commentators, MSM and the Tories) need to re-think their tactics around trying to combat Corbyn. There is a risk that the relentless Establishment attacks on Corbyn result in many folks doing their own research and taking a very hard look at the UK's role in the world.
Once folks start looking into events such as - King David Hotel bombing, the actions of a number of our Middle Eastern allies, who funds ISIS, the likely findings of the Chilcot review, UK's involvement in illegal renditions, Northern Ireland, Miners strike etc etc - they may not like what they find.
The Establishment's best approach would be to let Corbyn play out without looking like their in a state of panic, as this just seems to be driving forward the Corbyn surge.
The King David Hotel bombing was in 1946 nearly 70 years ago for heaven's sake.
One further thought - in 2017, the maths foundation paper is effectively being abolished. The new 'foundation' tier will be the current 'intermediate' tier. That's going to have a big impact on results unless something drastic happens. It's all worth pointing out that as it is nearly impossible to get a half-decent job (and totally impossible to get a university place) without GCSE maths, it's going to have a serious knock-on effect down the line.
BIB: That's quite worrying. Although I have known people getting into uni without maths, believe or not!
Well that didn't take long, the first and probably last elected left wing government in Europe since 1979 lasted 7 months in total and was a total failure.
Zapatero, Mitterrand, Brown, Felipe Gonzales, Romano Prodi, Sturgeon and virtually every Nordic Social Democrat government plus the whole of Eastern Europe until 1989?
Socialists are not left wing, when was the last time any socialist government did anything left wing? And I said elected governments not peoples republics. P.S. Gordon Brown is a lefty?
Brown increased spending to almost 50% of and the top tax rate to 50% Hollande to 70%. The fact Marxism is normally unelectable does not mean there have not been centre left government. You could also ask when was the last time we had a purely capitalist government in Europe?
Center-left is not left. A purely capitalist government in europe, hmm lets see where should I begin, right now in Europe there are 7: Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Switzerland.
One further thought - in 2017, the maths foundation paper is effectively being abolished. The new 'foundation' tier will be the current 'intermediate' tier. That's going to have a big impact on results unless something drastic happens. It's all worth pointing out that as it is nearly impossible to get a half-decent job (and totally impossible to get a university place) without GCSE maths, it's going to have a serious knock-on effect down the line.
Flip side to this: the Intermediate Tier was a good choice of paper for students trying to get a C but who had some chance of getting a B. Ideal for a lot of adult education students for instance (as an adult ed lecturer I was gutted when they scrapped it.)
Also, the half-decent jobs tend to require not just a basic pass (like a D or E) but a C or a B. In fact there seems almost no demand from employers for grades D-G, even though they exist, and even though they are useful at showing the range in skills. (Not that the letter grades will exist for much longer of course!)
Forcing people to take an intermediate-equivalent paper in order to get a C-equivalent isn't going to have much knock-on effect, since those who were going to get a C-equivalent on a foundation-equivalent paper would likely get one on an intermediate-equivalent paper anyway. In fact for a lot of students, it was easier on intermediate, because there are many students who are able to do things like basic algebra but had gaps in fundamental areas, particularly laying out arithmetic neatly and knowing their times table. The intermediate got straight on to their preferred level of difficulty whereas the foundation required them to score very highly on the "basic" questions that in theory they should have romped through, but in practice often caught them out.
Note also that there are going to be more people retaking GCSE during sixth form or (more likely) FE college, now that education/training is compulsory to 18 and that ongoing maths is going to be required. That gives people two more years to drag themselves up to C standard.
@tyson - 'Jez made the remarks on Russian TV a year ago when he was 65.'
Strikes me as a bit odd that the Labour leadership should allow back-bench MPs to wander off the reservation to speak to the Russian press. – What else has Corbyn been up to?
You could also ask when was the last time we had a purely capitalist government in Europe?
That's easy. Never. Nobody has ever tried capitalism in its pure form for a very good reason - the potential social costs are far too high and the risk of revolution would therefore be too great.
Also, of course, in theory at least pure capitalism requires that nobody ever raise taxes - therefore a capitalist government is technically as much of an oxymoron as a communist one.
You always end up therefore with a hybrid economy of some sort in a sane system (War Communism in Russia, complete with the famous moneyless budget, being disqualified for not being sane) - it's just a question of where you put the emphasis on the different parts.
I think you need to be careful in defining your terms with "pure capitalism", there. Perhaps "pure free market" is better, since the concept exists and there are at least folk who advocate for it. (That's addressed to HYUFD really!)
Really now the idea that the Foreign Sec is one of the big four jobs of government is a nonsense. Its more a placement for senior people who, cannot for party purposes, be dumped to see out their time comfortably with lots of first class travel.
I think it would revert to being a big job the moment someone with stature was appointed. Going back over the previous Foreign Secretaries - Hammond, Hague, Miliband, Beckett, Straw, Cook, Rifkind - you have to get all the way to Hurd before encountering anyone who looked like a statesman.
Quite right about Douglas Hurd. They don't make them like that anymore.
"Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger."
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Neville Chamberlain did start WWII (sort of).
No, the Germans started it! They invaded Poland!
The Russians started it, actually, by conning Hitler into invading Poland...
One further thought - in 2017, the maths foundation paper is effectively being abolished. The new 'foundation' tier will be the current 'intermediate' tier. That's going to have a big impact on results unless something drastic happens. It's all worth pointing out that as it is nearly impossible to get a half-decent job (and totally impossible to get a university place) without GCSE maths, it's going to have a serious knock-on effect down the line.
Flip side to this: the Intermediate Tier was a good choice of paper for students trying to get a C but who had some chance of getting a B. Ideal for a lot of adult education students for instance (as an adult ed lecturer I was gutted when they scrapped it.)
Also, the half-decent jobs tend to require not just a basic pass (like a D or E) but a C or a B. In fact there seems almost no demand from employers for grades D-G, even though they exist, and even though they are useful at showing the range in skills. (Not that the letter grades will exist for much longer of course!)
Forcing people to take an intermediate-equivalent paper in order to get a C-equivalent isn't going to have much knock-on effect, since those who were going to get a C-equivalent on a foundation-equivalent paper would likely get one on an intermediate-equivalent paper anyway. In fact for a lot of students, it was easier on intermediate, because there are many students who are able to do things like basic algebra but had gaps in fundamental areas, particularly laying out arithmetic neatly and knowing their times table. The intermediate got straight on to their preferred level of difficulty whereas the foundation required them to score very highly on the "basic" questions that in theory they should have romped through, but in practice often caught them out.
Note also that there are going to be more people retaking GCSE during sixth form or (more likely) FE college, now that education/training is compulsory to 18 and that ongoing maths is going to be required. That gives people two more years to drag themselves up to C standard.
I've found that it's not basic stuff that is the issue e.g. times table, but the more advanced stuff such as Quadratics, or Surds that messes quite a few people up.
"Outwardly everything seemed equitable, a part of Poland for Hitler and a part for Stalin. However, just one week after the signing of the Pact, Stalin played his first dirty trick. Hitler began the war against Poland, while Stalin stated that his troops were not yet ready. He could have told Ribbentrop that before the Pact was signed, but he did not do so. Hitler began the war and found himself on his own. The result? He, and he alone, was branded the perpetrator of the Second World War.
Once he had begun the war against Poland, Hitler immediately found himself at war with France, that is, at war on two fronts. Every German schoolboy knew how a war on two fronts would turn out in the end for Germany.
As far as Stalin was concerned, Poland had been partitioned, not in the Chancellery in Berlin, but in the Kremlin in Moscow. In effect, Stalin got the war he wanted, with a western nation destroying others around it, while Stalin remained neutral, biding his time. When, later, he got into serious difficulties, Stalin at once received help from the West.
In the end, however, Poland, for whose liberty the West had gone to war, ended up with none at all. On the contrary, she was handed over to Stalin, along with the whole of Eastern Europe, including a part of Germany. Even so, there are some people in the West who continue to believe that the West won the Second World War.
Hitler committed suicide; Stalin became the absolute ruler of a vast empire hostile to the West, which had been created with the help of the West. For all that, Stalin was able to preserve his reputation as naive and trusting, while Hitler went down in history as the ultimate aggressor. A multitude of books have been published in the West based on the idea that Stalin was not ready for war while Hitler was. In my view, the man who is ready for war is not the one who loudly proclaims himself prepared for it, but the man who wins it — by dividing his enemies and knocking their heads together." Icebreaker, by Viktor Suvorov, 1990
Comments
The fact Labour failed south of the border as well as north of it made the whole question moot.
The division between "republic" and "empire" is an anachronism. The Romans considered themselves for it to be one continuous Res Publica for the entire period, during which different political institutions rose and fall. Augustus was not a monarch or emperor in the medieval sense, but the First Citizen of the Senate, invested with the authority of the state. It can even be argued that the concept of a public state separate from the Imperator (and later Basileus) lasted continuously until the fall of the Roman State in 1453.
Loving the new avatar, Tovarish
За Родину! За KopБина!
Shadow Chancellor
Chief secretary to the Treasury
Defence
Foreign secretary
Business secretary
Northern Ireland
I ought to be able to make any offensive or bad-mannered comments I want about Christianity, Islam, the Mormons, Jehovas Witnesses, Judaism or any other belief system out there like astrology. Without fear of violence or prosecution.
As for the other positions, he'll probably be more flexible and lenient.
People loyal to the new leadership should be called by definition loyalists.
Everyone will cry fraud if this continues, even Liz Kendall:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/20/labour-leadership-election-rejected-supporters-express-their-anger
If some #Labourpurge doubts take hold and a few have second thoughts about Jezzbollah and his 40 thieves then Shadsy's 5/2 on 40-50% first prefs look value. Alternately he has 7/4 on less than 50% on first prefs.
With the uncertainty on polling this selectorate I think these are tempting.
Increased productivity enables higher wages to be paid which increases tax take.
Increased productivity means fewer government workers needed for the same amount of work done and reduces government spending.
Going back, Lloyd George far outshone Balfour, even though Balfour was a former Prime Minister himself - but Asquith never really got to grips with foreign affairs, leaving it to Grey. Lord Salisbury was mostly, literally, his own Foreign Secretary, and cabinets met at the foreign office - as was Disraeli in his later years, but not Gladstone, who was content to leave foreign affairs largely to Rosebery. Derby appointed his own son Foreign Secretary to keep it under his control!
Going further back, sometimes it was the other way around - Fox, Castlereagh, Canning and Palmerston were all at various times (not all times) officially Foreign Secretary but in practice running the government over the heads of feeble premiers.
It's true that in recent years, with the growth of air travel meaning PMs can spend more time abroad without long voyages to consider, PMs can now conduct more foreign affairs on their own. But I think the weakness of the FO is due to a string of interventionist PMs, not to the weakness of the office itself. If we had a domestically focussed PM again, I think it would come back quickly.
- M H Thatcher, On Douglas Hurd, as quoted in "Atticus", The Sunday Times (2 May, 1993)
Elections September 20th.
I think he may have done a tactical error in saying that "now we vote for who is going to implement the 3rd bailout". If people wanted a bailout and wanted it implemented or not they would vote for the opposition not for him.
What about President Hollande?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/20/labour-leadership-election-rejected-supporters-express-their-anger
I predicted weeks ago that this could end in the courts.
"Not a member? No problem, you can have a vote by paying £3 if you support our aims.
Great! Here's my £3.
Sorry, we now don't feel you deserve a vote.
Why not?
Can't tell you, unless you become a full member."
A Kafka-esque farce....
"Not a member? No problem, you can have a vote by paying £3 if you support our aims.
Great! Here's my £3.
Sorry, we now don't feel you deserve a vote.
Why not?
Can't tell you, unless you become a full member."
A Kafka-esque farce....
Labour will have to give a refund, though it's even Labour members who are excluded to vote.
The Greek opinion polls have SYRIZA on about 40%, and ND about 22%.
Let us assume that SYRIZA (Tsipiras), ND and SYRIZA (splinter) all end up in the low 20s.
That means that even with the 50 seat bonus, there will probably need to be a coalition between two of those three.
It could be quite entertaining. That being said, I suspect Tsipiras walks this, getting 30-33% for his SYRIZA, with SYRIZA (splinter) getting perhaps 10%.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOAJ9G4iytU
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart
"Not a member? No problem, you can have a vote by paying £3 if you support our aims.
Great! Here's my £3.
Sorry, we now don't feel you deserve a vote.
Why not?
Can't tell you, unless you become a full member."
A Kafka-esque farce....
If they're even blocking full members of fairly long standing, as in the case of that tweet above, then this really should end in the courts.
It's about all that's needed to make this the most farcical and inept leadership election of all time. Even the Borgias weren't quite as incompetent as this.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been lurking on this forum called tes community. Apparently it's a community of teachers.
If it is indeed a community of teachers (and they are representative) then the UK is really screwed. I love how that when more a third fail GCSE Maths, they blame the pupils, and don't ask questions of their own teaching. If you instinctively dismiss pupils, then they aren't going to do well.
And on Tspiras: LOL.
http://www.sunnation.co.uk/corbyn-aide-dubbed-77-bombings-revenge-for-iraq-war/
No, they are not representative, any more than PB posters are representative of all voting patterns. They tend to be the most vocal and aggressive, and the forum has a strong left-wing bias anyway because of its links to the newspaper.
EDIT (further thought) - they would tend to be particularly unrepresentative of good teachers in shortage subjects, because they are the most overworked and have little time to do anything other than work - even in the holidays.
I think it will be a wild unpredictable ride, look out for 4 things:
1. If ND and Syriza are close.
2. The new left wing party.
3. The Union of Centrists.
4. The Nazi party.
If Syriza gets close to ND then the smaller parties will get squeezed, if not then Syriza will lose even more support to it's left and to the Nazis, while ND will lose support to the Union. So far 1 in 5 Syriza voters from the last election are leaving it for the new left party, that's about 7%.
In all circumstances I expect record low turnout.
Also I expect that Tsipras will still be PM but forced into a wide pro-european coalition with another 3 parties, but not the Independent Greeks as they will be thrashed.
Consequently the British Foreign Secretary is about as important or slightly less so than the German Foreign Secretary (whom most of us on this forum of politics experts probably can't name).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident
P.S. Gordon Brown is a lefty?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLRjFWDGs1g
I would quote the words of a very wise teacher who taught in a dozen schools, over forty years, without ever moving beyond Head of Department (because he didn't want to): 'I've never yet met a teacher who wakes up on Monday mornings thinking, "What's the most damaging thing I can do to the children I'm teaching this week?"' (My mother would unfortunately be unable to say that - she was a colleague of the infamous Woodhead - but that's another story.) Unfortunately, because nobody believes us when we say that, when things go wrong we do tend to close ranks and fire out at the world - even when it's our fault.
The siege mentality in education is much the saddest thing about it, and I strongly suspect, even ahead of the workload, the comparatively low pay and the long hours, is one reason why 40% of teachers quit the profession within five years of qualifying.
Once folks start looking into events such as - King David Hotel bombing, the actions of a number of our Middle Eastern allies, who funds ISIS, the likely findings of the Chilcot review, UK's involvement in illegal renditions, Northern Ireland, Miners strike etc etc - they may not like what they find.
The Establishment's best approach would be to let Corbyn play out without looking like their in a state of panic, as this just seems to be driving forward the Corbyn surge.
Also, of course, in theory at least pure capitalism requires that nobody ever raise taxes - therefore a capitalist government is technically as much of an oxymoron as a communist one.
You always end up therefore with a hybrid economy of some sort in a sane system (War Communism in Russia, complete with the famous moneyless budget, being disqualified for not being sane) - it's just a question of where you put the emphasis on the different parts.
Corbers really doesn't like the Yanks one jot.
The good news for those who love Jezza is that these comments are well in the past, and can be put down to the foolishness of youth. Jez made the remarks on Russian TV a year ago when he was 65.
Introductions taking place now and being broadcast on
http://www.ng-digital.co.uk/
A purely capitalist government in europe, hmm lets see where should I begin, right now in Europe there are 7: Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Switzerland.
Also, the half-decent jobs tend to require not just a basic pass (like a D or E) but a C or a B. In fact there seems almost no demand from employers for grades D-G, even though they exist, and even though they are useful at showing the range in skills. (Not that the letter grades will exist for much longer of course!)
Forcing people to take an intermediate-equivalent paper in order to get a C-equivalent isn't going to have much knock-on effect, since those who were going to get a C-equivalent on a foundation-equivalent paper would likely get one on an intermediate-equivalent paper anyway. In fact for a lot of students, it was easier on intermediate, because there are many students who are able to do things like basic algebra but had gaps in fundamental areas, particularly laying out arithmetic neatly and knowing their times table. The intermediate got straight on to their preferred level of difficulty whereas the foundation required them to score very highly on the "basic" questions that in theory they should have romped through, but in practice often caught them out.
Note also that there are going to be more people retaking GCSE during sixth form or (more likely) FE college, now that education/training is compulsory to 18 and that ongoing maths is going to be required. That gives people two more years to drag themselves up to C standard.
Strikes me as a bit odd that the Labour leadership should allow back-bench MPs to wander off the reservation to speak to the Russian press. – What else has Corbyn been up to?
Someone needs to be making contingency plans for a military junta to have a coup if that crazy, crazy man comes anywhere close to winning.
Speculation is rife in political circles that our dear leader OGH as an old Liberal with follicular issues is now posting as "Old Whig".
I think PB should be told ....
Once he had begun the war against Poland, Hitler immediately found himself at war with France, that is, at war on two fronts. Every German schoolboy knew how a war on two fronts would turn out in the end for Germany.
As far as Stalin was concerned, Poland had been partitioned, not in the Chancellery in Berlin, but in the Kremlin in Moscow. In effect, Stalin got the war he wanted, with a western nation destroying others around it, while Stalin remained neutral, biding his time. When, later, he got into serious difficulties, Stalin at once received help from the West.
In the end, however, Poland, for whose liberty the West had gone to war, ended up with none at all. On the contrary, she was handed over to Stalin, along with the whole of Eastern Europe, including a part of Germany. Even so, there are some people in the West who continue to believe that the West won the Second World War.
Hitler committed suicide; Stalin became the absolute ruler of a vast empire hostile to the West, which had been created with the help of the West. For all that, Stalin was able to preserve his reputation as naive and trusting, while Hitler went down in history as the ultimate aggressor. A multitude of books have been published in the West based on the idea that Stalin was not ready for war while Hitler was. In my view, the man who is ready for war is not the one who loudly proclaims himself prepared for it, but the man who wins it — by dividing his enemies and knocking their heads together." Icebreaker, by Viktor Suvorov, 1990